I have the B1, B2, and the B3. I was an early adopter of the 9x45 B2. I agree with JB in that it is a GREAT glass. The same capitalized adjective applies to the B1 and B3. They will seriously compete with anything. I had Swarovski SLC 10x42, SV 8.5x42 and 10x42 as well as the SV 10x50 SV in my personal ownership possession while having the same ownership of the B1, B2, and B3. The reason was primarily for comparison with the big B2, but the B3 seems optically too close to the B2 to matter much. The Maven's remain, the Swarovski's do not. Mostly that is because of the severe rolling ball reaction I get with the over hyped flat field of the SV, I can't use them. Even the SLC could not put the B2 down for the count. To be clear, the Swarovski is in certain ways better, but in certain ways the B2 kicked some butt on its own. My personal go to binocular combo is the 9x45 B2 and the 8x30 B3. They are more two different types than one being clearly better than the other.
Maven is working on a 7x45 B2 and a 6x30 B3. There is also a 15x56 based on the Abbe-Koening prisms in the works too.
In spite of Jerry's personal bile over the customization process, I used it on the B2 and B3, this is a feature that needs to be far more widely offered.
You will not regret the 5 bills for the B3. Eyeglass wearers may have some different reaction. Point is no two eye glass wearers have the same eye relief needs , so you might need to be prepared to send it back if it does not work. However the eye cup assemblies unscrew and 0-rings can be used to extend the er somewhat.
Last edited by SteveC99; 02/08/16.
